Garden Dance
by C.B. Magique
Summary: After regaining her memories Kairi sets out to explore all of her old haunts in Radiant Garden and this one happens to be her favourite. However, it's already occupied by someone she doesn't remember - a boy with an embarrassing dilemma. But she's happy to help and maybe even more than a little enchanted to meet him.


**Hi, and I wrote an Ienri story again becase my love for this pairing _WILL NEVER DIE_. It went through about 4 title changes before I settled on this one, most of them stupidly blatant references to the song "All About Us" by He Is We feat. Owl City, which (if you've heard the song) should immediately give you an indication of the level of fluff in this story.  
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 **P.S.: Assume that KHIII (Oh god E3! *flail's madly*) is going to be as significant for Kairi as it is for Sora and/or Riku and she gets her memories of Radiant Garden back at the end of it all because that is the scenario that this situation is predicated on. And it would be _so_ great if that happened because they've gotta address that amnesia thing at some point. **

**Did it turn out cute like I wanted it to or not? Please review at the end :)**

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 **Garden Dance**

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Kairi wandered down the cobbled streets of Radiant Garden, gaily humming a tune as she swung a small wicker basket on her fingers. Up ahead she spied a small, barely perceptible opening between the buildings. She hastily looked around to make sure nobody was watching as she approached before she slipped into it. Once inside the narrow, dark alley she began to run. She got around the corner before anybody could notice or follow.

In here was a tangle of backstreets and alleys that time had forgotten. The walls were blotched with moss and crawling with ivy and it smelled of damp stone. The rooms and buildings in this part of town were boarded up and partially ruined and the fountains in the squares she came across were faulty or dilapidated. It brought a drop of sadness to Kairi's heart to see this old neighbourhood reduced to such a state after Radiant Garden's supposed restoration. Presumably someone would eventually remember this place existed and start doing something about it. On the other hand, it gave her a giddy flutter because it meant that her secret place was just that much more of a secret now.

With her precious childhood memories of this town restored after their last adventure, Kairi had been so eager to visit the places she'd left behind. Her newer memories restored her older ones with every sight, smell and sound she took in. This memory would be the best and most precious because this was one she had shared with nobody, not even her childhood friends.

Eventually she came to a dead end. A broken, algae-slathered fountain trickled water into a deep pond covered by a rusty grate. The eyes of the fountain's lion head gazed ferociously at her from the sturdy wall it was mounted upon, daring any and all before it to encroach. Her lips quirked into a smile. Even if it was only a statue, defying its challenging demeanour was no less exciting now than it was eleven years ago.

The wall was tall but not impassable if you knew where to look. Kairi peered into the corner where bricks from the buildings met the wall's concrete. Some broken bricks, protruding bricks and large cracks from vine roots and seepage marked a vertical climb up to the top of the wall. It was harder than Kairi remembered though it could have just been because she was bigger and heavier than she used to be. The top of the wall was covered in a blanket of creepers so thick that it spilled over like a green waterfall. The curly tendrils of new vines tickled her on the way up and blocked her vision of the footholds, forcing her to feel for her next step. But she persevered because once she was able to get over the top the magic would begin.

The vines on top of the wall were strong enough for Kairi to grab hold of and pull herself up and over. She took a deep breath now that the exertion was over and then grinned. This place was quite high up in the town with the buildings accidentally built around it in such a way that there was a gap in the east and the west letting light through at all times of the day. The top of the wall where the light hit no matter the season was hugged tightly by a dense mass of flowering wisteria. Down below it was a garden that in its years of neglect had run rampant with its irises, daisies, roses, marigolds and all other manner of colourful flowers. On the other side of the lion's head, a unicorn fountain poked out of the wall with a gracefully arched neck that had wisteria draped over it like a green and purple mane. It dribbled into a pool that had overflowed and water was creeping along the joints in the pavement and under the feet of someone who was dancing alone between the flower beds.

Kairi gasped and her jaw dropped. She had never told anybody about this place before; nobody else was supposed to know about it. The silver-haired boy had his arms up to hold his imaginary partner while he looked down at his feet, muttering to himself:

"Okay and one two three—is that correct?" He shuffled his feet confusedly. "I'm not sure… I'll try again. One two three—okay, that's right. And then the turn goes like… um…"

The indignation of having a stranger in her secret place ebbed away and a tide of curiosity washed in. With it came amusement and Kairi found a comfortable position on the wall, swinging her legs as she watched him falter and hesitate with his steps. It got too funny to bear and Kairi couldn't stop a giggle escaping. The boy started like he'd been given an electric shock (his hair even stood up for a second) and turned around. They both froze in panic. He stared wide-eyed at Kairi and she gawked back.

Finally Kairi broke the ice by giggling. "Sorry, I was just surprised to see you."

She climbed down from the top of the wall using the wisteria but the boy kept staring at her. Neither of them said anything until after Kairi had launched herself over the flower bed from the wall when the boy blurted out: "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" Kairi retorted, that indignation returning. "I never told anybody about this place. It was my secret place when I was a kid."

"Technically, this is castle grounds and you're trespassing," the boy said but he was backing away from her, almost as if he was afraid. "Although the castle hasn't maintained it in quite some time, even before… everything. I thought that nobody would know about this place as I've certainly never told anybody. Even the king didn't know about my haunt."

"Are you serious?" Kairi snickered. "Then we had the same secret place and didn't even know?"

"Um… great minds think alike?"

She laughed softly. "You could say that. I always loved coming here whenever I needed space, like when I felt sad or mad. The flowers here were always the best and most beautiful so sometimes I just came here to smell them or pick them." She brandished her left arm where her wicker basket was hanging in the crook of her elbow. "What about you?"

"Much the same, actually," the boy replied. His shoulders sagged a little – a sure sign that he was starting to relax. "Nobody at the castle really comes here anymore. There's still a narrow path that goes around all of these other buildings back to the main garden but the gate is in a rather obscure location. I'm sorry, I've forgotten myself. We just started up a conversation and I didn't even bother to introduce myself. Not to mention how rudely I spoke earlier. I'm Ienzo. As you probably guessed by now, I live at the castle. I'm a ward."

"A ward? What does that mean?"

"It means that I am officially appointed to the care of someone else."

"Really? So, it means that you're an orphan?"

Ienzo coughed uncomfortably. "Not necessarily. Although in my case, that just happens to be true." He grimaced and looked away glumly.

"D-don't get so sad!" Kairi said quickly. "It's not so bad… being an orphan, I mean. I'm an orphan too." Rather than reply he just looked at her curiously. Such a scrutinising gaze made her squirm. "I lived with my grandmother. I found her again recently but I don't have parents. By the way, I'm Kairi. Nice to meet you."

He nodded. "Likewise."

It became silent between the two of them. Ienzo refrained from looking at her and Kairi shuffled her feet awkwardly.

"So, what were you doing here?" she asked.

Ienzo blushed. "I-I think it s-should have been obvious."

"You were practising dancing, I could see that," Kairi said, leaning forward with an inquisitive gleam in her eye. "But _why_?"

"Well, I'm not very good, obviously."

Kairi pouted. "But what do you need to learn to dance for?"

She started coming closer and Ienzo backed away until his heel hit the bricks ringing one of the garden beds. "It's… it's not important. I won't be going anyway."

"Going? Is it for that celebration festival? The one in the marketplace in a few days?"

Ienzo sighed, blowing his thick bangs. "Yes. But as I said, I no longer plan to attend. Besides, there is a lot of work to do back at the castle what with The Grid finally being restored and that giant mess that was left in the basement."

"You're not going to go just because you can't dance? That's silly! Even if you don't dance there are going to be plenty of things to do that don't involve dancing."

"I'm a well-known political representative. People will expect me to partake in all of the major activities. Of course, it will send another message altogether if I just don't turn up but I think I'd rather save myself the embarrassment."

"Don't be like that," Kairi said with a smile. She reached over and took his hand, drawing it away from his body and pulling him closer. "Aerith and Yuffie have been teaching me how to do the town dances. They even managed to get Cid and Leon to help me learn partner dances! So I'll teach you what they taught me."

"You really don't have to…"

"But I want to help! You said it yourself, if you don't go then it might send the wrong message to people. And surely this will be easier with a partner, right?"

Ienzo opened his mouth to reply but all of the words left him when she suddenly pulled him so close that they were toe to toe. He gulped. Kairi took his other hand, closing the circle between the two of them and then looked up smiling.

"Okay, so, Aerith said that part of the trick is not to look at your feet; you should _feel_ your feet moving correctly rather than see them. Looking down all the time messes up your whole body, apparently." She dragged him into the middle of the most open part of the garden. "This one was my favourite. It's a circle dance, you know, right? And it's easy because the inside partner and the outside partner do exactly the same thing but opposite to each other."

Ienzo rolled his eyes but let her talk through the steps. Of course he'd already learned the technical steps to all of the traditional dances but she was so eager to be his teacher. She took a step back and then forward and he copied her but this time tried to follow her tip from earlier. However, he wasn't sure what to do with his eyes so he ended up focussing on her face.

Once her feet had started going she'd quickly stopped talking and her lips were pressed lightly together as she hummed a tune. It was a familiar one—a version of the kind of music that usually accompanied this dance. They walked around each other to swap sides, pressed their hands together, right then left. Her humming was such a gorgeous sound. If only she would open her mouth and sing, would it still sound so angelic? Their dance was a simple progression of turns and spins and in no time at all they completed the final step. They took each other's hand and Kairi spun under his arm to end up in their original places.

"Then we bow, I go right and you go left and you do it again," she explained to finish off, giving a slight bow. "See? You were really good at this. Did Aerith's trick make all of the difference?"

"Maybe…" he muttered but any glee that might have come from his success was drowned by the disappointment that she had stopped her humming so soon. "Circle dances are child's play, though – literally; they're meant to be comprehensible even to small children. But they're not the only type of dance that will be performed. We should try something harder."

"You mean like a waltz?" Her smile widened and her eyes sparkled at her own suggestion and she bounced to get into position. One hand went over his shoulder and the other picked up his hand. "You know, Leon was surprisingly good at these, which I think made him a pretty good teacher too. It's such a graceful kind of dance – it's such a shame that I was missing out on it for so long."

" _I'm sure it was,"_ he thought, unable to speak his mind. He took up his position but he couldn't bear to look at her. _"You lost this world because of the foolish things we did in the pursuit of knowledge that wasn't worth having. I'm so sorry, Kairi."_

Ienzo leaned closer and put his head over her shoulder, where she wouldn't be able to see his guilt-ridden face. His actions as Zexion and the schemes of Organisation XIII could have ruined such an innocent heart, in more ways than she would ever know. She didn't remember Naminé. There lay the true extent to which The Organisation had used her to get to Sora and Riku. His heart swelled with relief to see that her radiant smile had remained intact even after all that had happened but the knowledge that many of those things were – even only in part – his fault constricted it, causing pain even in his joy.

She began to hum again. He almost closed his eyes to the subtle beauty of her melody. His eyelids did fall halfway and stay that way. Their feet stepped out the beat and that alone completed the music that only the two of them could hear. It came so easily now – the advice of this woman named 'Aerith' certainly had merit. When he couldn't see his feet the only thing he could do was retrace recited steps and poses. Maybe he was a little ungainly and sometimes needed to adjust himself with clumsy double steps and shuffles but it was much easier to not worry about what it all looked like.

He let his eyes fall shut completely, listening to Kairi's voice humming close to his ear. With his face so close to her head her hair overpowered the garden's fragrance with the scent of sugar, salt and wet earth. He smiled. It was so unique and so physical. His previous abilities had left him along with the darkness, as well as their tendency to overpower the physical sense with the ethereal perceptions. Had he still had those abilities she would have smelled very strongly of the light and at least one unique identifier. Perhaps it would have been this scent in her hair that had the muted tone of most natural scents.

So lost in his thoughts he was that he missed Kairi trying to initiate the second phase of the routine. His eyes flew open and he tried to shuffle into place but forgot what he needed to do. She tripped over his feet. Unable to regain her balance, a little squeak left her as she started to fall towards a garden bed that they had wandered very close to during their dance, one that was overgrown with a dense thicket of thorny roses. Without thinking, Ienzo stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her back and her waist. Kairi's arms instinctively wrapped around his shoulders.

They both paused like that. She'd gotten so close that her hair was draped over the leaves and flowers beneath her. Not to mention how close she'd gotten to him; her warm breath tickled his lips. Eye to eye like this Ienzo marvelled at the crystal clarity of the bright colour in her irises, as she stared back into his with the same startled expression. His heartbeat picked up its tempo with each beat as the longer they stayed the more aware he became of all of the points where their bodies met. His skin flushed red from his neck to the tips of his ears. Kairi's eyes lifted in amusement and she giggled as a pink blush coloured her cheeks.

"You don't have to hold your breath."

The words caressed his face on her breath and sent a jolt up his spine. Ienzo abruptly stood upright, pulling her with him and then quickly stepped away, sucking in a deep breath.

"I'm sorry that was all my fault."

"Don't worry about it. Let's just try again." She took his hands. "Are you sure you really needed help, though? You dance pretty well."

"Maybe that's your opinion but I assure you it will be a completely different scenario once I'm in public. Other dancers may not find my fumbling steps acceptable and it might… _amuse_ some people to see that I'm actually a very poor dancer."

"So what you're saying is that all this time all you needed was the right partner," Kairi teased, looking at him slyly with catlike grin.

"That is a wild extrapolation!" Ienzo protested.

She giggled again, a sound that he was already getting used to and oddly fond of. "Well, if you want to find the right partner, she'll be going to the festival and she'll also be dancing. She would appreciate it if you came along. So, would you consider that a reason to go?"

"Uh, well… in that case, I suppose I wouldn't want to let her down," Ienzo replied, adjusting his ascot uselessly. "I do have a few days, after all. That could be enough time to polish off these steps for the festival."

"And I'd still be willing to help! I'll come here every day until the festival and practise dancing with you until it's down pat."

Ienzo smiled. "That's very kind of you. Even though this lesson was rather short, I should be returning to the castle shortly. I fear that the others will start to get suspicious over the length of my absence otherwise. But I'll be here again just after noon every day until the festival, if you're happy to offer your tutelage at that time."

"I look forward to it."

He bowed to her, a gesture that was mostly playful. Kairi returned it in kind with a curtsey, picking up an imaginary skirt that was much longer than what she was wearing. Ienzo headed to a gate on the other side of the garden that was now mostly hidden by overgrown ivy and left by it. A heavy _click_ followed his departure. Kairi had always figured that that gate must have locked from the other side because she had never been able to open it. She turned her attention back to the flowers that surrounded her.

"Ienzo, huh?" she murmured. "Weird name but he's really cute in a lot of ways."

Giddy and light-hearted from the encounter, she let her basket fall into her hands and spun around. She hummed gaily to herself for the rest of the afternoon, even as she was making her way back to the Restoration Committee's base with her basket full of flowers. She even burst into song a couple of times but passers-by couldn't really be shocked by that with how she skipped down the streets.

" _Ienzo… I'm glad I get to see you again. I'll be waiting for you."_


End file.
